The Atmospheric Observations Group focuses on research using remote sensing observations of the Earth's troposphere and stratosphere. The group is divided into five Teams:

Mark IV interferometer team: uses a mid-infrared Fourier transform interferometer to measure the atmosphere using the Sun as a source. The Mark IV interferometer can be deployed in a stratospheric balloon gondola, on aircraft, or on the ground.

Balloon OH (BOH) instrument team: uses a heterodyne radiometer to detect thermal emission from the OH radical in the Earth's stratosphere. BOH is deployed in a stratospheric balloon gondola and is used to validate OH measurements made by the MLS instrument on the Aura satellite.

Submillimeter Limb Sounder (SLS) instrument: uses a cryogenic heterodyne radiometer to detect thermal emission from multiple molecules near 640 GHz in the Earth's stratosphere. SLS is deployed in a stratospheric balloon gondola or on aircraft

Balloon Support team: provides local and remote site support for stratospheric balloon observations including gondola construction, interfaces to communications, and gondola azimuth pointing.

LIDAR team: uses LIDAR to measure tropospheric and stratospheric temperature, ozone and water. Instrumentation is housed at Table Mountain and in Hawaii.

The group has expertise in remote sensing instrumentation, retrievals, as well as atmospheric science. There are close ties with the MLS project, the TES project, the OCO project, and the Network for Detection of Stratospheric Change.

David Rider
Atmospheric Observations
Group Supervisor (Act.)Read More >>